Australian Government striking a path forward for BIM

With the recommendations from the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, the government is poised to lead in BIM implementation.

As Australia steps further into the mobile, digital age, a number of industries are embracing new technologies. These advancements are providing a number of benefits across many sectors.

Construction is no exception to this trend, as innovations propel the field forward in all aspects from design to the finished structure. Building Information Modelling (BIM) encompasses many of these areas, using intelligent modelling strategies to generate an optimal final product.

To cement this technology's future in applications across the country, the Australian Government is poised to make BIM implementation and adoption a priority.

The government, the industry and BIM

Industry professionals are certainly on board with the idea of the government requiring the use of BIM in a number of projects. According to Redstack's BIM survey results, the majority of respondents said that a government mandate for BIM would have either a positive or neutral impact on their firms.

Additionally, 80 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of the government requiring the use of BIM for some or all projects.
These results correspond with the findings of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, which recently completed an inquiry into smart information and communications technology (ICT). The committee's report noted that, while a number of industry stakeholders supported government leadership in BIM implementation, they did not believe that the government should require its use for all projects.

The committee's final report on smart ICT made a number of recommendations regarding a government push for BIM. In addition to calling for the creation of a task force on these technologies, the committee also advocated that for the use of BIM on all major projects that receive partial or full government funding with a total cost over $50 million.

John Alexander MP, committee chair, noted that BIM and other smart technologies could have a tremendous impact on the Australian economy.

"In order to achieve this, however, governments and industry must be aware of the potential of smart ICT, and must invest in the technologies, skills and systems to make the transformation a reality," he added.

Should the committee's recommendations be implemented, they will create significant opportunities for a number of projects to see the benefits of BIM nationwide.